He published a book called Truth and Untruth: Political Deceit in America in 1972. One of McCloskey's enduring legacies is his co-authorship of the 1973 Endangered Species Act.[1]

Early life

Pete McCloskey's great-grandfather was orphaned in the Great Irish Famine and came to California in 1853 at the age of 16. He and his son, McCloskey's grandfather, were farmers in Merced County. The family were lifelong Republicans.[2]

Military service

McCloskey voluntarily served in the U.S. Navy from 1945 to 1947, the U.S. Marine Corps from 1950 to 1952, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from 1952 to 1960 and the Ready Reserve from 1960 to 1967. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1974, having attained the rank of Colonel.

Political career

McCloskey served as Deputy District Attorney for Alameda County, California, from 1953 to 1954 and practiced law in Palo Alto, California, from 1955 to 1967, cofounding the firm that eventually became Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He was a lecturer on legal ethics at the Santa Clara and Stanford Law Schools from 1964 to 1967. He was elected as a Republican to the 90th Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of U.S. Rep.J. Arthur Younger, after defeating Shirley Temple in the primary, and was reelected to the seven succeeding Congresses, serving from December 12, 1967 to January 3, 1983. In a 1981 interview, he stated that he thought he "was the first Republican elected opposing the war" despite the fact that his "constituency, two to one, favored the war in 1967".[6]

McCloskey was the first member of Congress to publicly call for the impeachment of President Nixon after the Watergate scandal and the Saturday Night Massacre. He was also the first lawmaker to call for a repeal of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that had allowed for the War in Vietnam.[1] He chose, in early 1975, to see for himself the effects of US bombing in Cambodia, stating afterwards that his country had committed "greater evil than we have done to any country in the world, and wholly without reason, except for our benefit to fight against the Vietnamese".[7]

McCloskey sought the 1972 Republican Presidential nomination on a pro-peace/anti-Vietnam War platform, and obtained 11% of the vote against incumbent President Richard M. Nixon in the New Hampshire primary. At the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida, Rep. McCloskey received one vote (out of 1324) from a New Mexico delegate. All other votes cast went to President Nixon, which technically meant that McCloskey finished second place in the race for the Presidential nomination. Congressman John Ashbrook of Ohio had also challenged President Nixon's bid for re-nomination, albeit on a conservative platform.

According to Paul Findley, McCloskey was hounded by the Anti-Defamation League both during his political career and when he retired to private practice as a lawyer., for his outspoken views on Israel's attitude to Palestinians, and the Israel Lobby.[9]

Pat Robertson presidential campaign controversy

McCloskey's revelation of Pat Robertson's lies about his Korean War service put an end to Robertson's 1988 Presidential run. Robertson first claimed that he was a "combat veteran" back in 1981, which aroused the ire of McCloskey, who had been shipped to Korea along with Robertson as second lieutenants as part as the 5th Replacement Draft to bolster the First Marine Division, which had suffered great losses at the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. McCloskey and Robertson were part of a contingent of 71 Marine officers and 1,900 enlisted men shipped to Korea aboard the U.S.S. General J.C. Breckenridge to serve as replacements.[13]

When Robertson began claiming again that he was a combat veteran during the 1988 Republican primaries, McCloskey wrote a public letter to U.S. Representative Andrew Jacobs Jr., also a Marine veteran of the Korean War, in which McCloskey said that Robertson was actually spared combat duty when his powerful father, U.S. Senator A. Willis Robertson of Virginia, intervened on his behalf, and that Robertson had actually boasted that his father would keep him out of combat. Robertson, a college friend, and four other second lieutenants were shipped to Japan, detailed to a training mission for Marines coming out of Korea. Of the remaining Marine officers, half were killed or wounded in combat.[13]

Robertson sued McCloskey and another accuser for libel, demanding damages of $35 million, but research underwritten by McCloskey that cost him $400,000 proved that his revelations were true. Rather than being a combat veteran, Robertson had been shipped to Japan right off the U.S.S. Breckenridge, then spent most of his time when returned to Korea and was posted at the safe harbor of the Division Headquarters. Robertson served as the Division "liquor officer", responsible for keeping the officers' clubs supplied with alcohol, which meant he kept traveling back to Japan. It was claimed that Robertson sexually harassed a Korean woman at one of his clubs and worried about getting gonorrhea. Documentary evidence uncovered by McCloskey revealed that his father, Senator Robertson, thanked Marine Commandant Robinson for getting his son out of combat. By the time of the libel trial, which was scheduled for Super Tuesday, many other Marine officers were prepared to testify that Robertson avoided combat duty.The day before the trial, Robertson dropped the libel suit. On Super Tuesday, he was punished at the polls. He later paid McCloskey's court costs.[13][14]

McCloskey wrote a book about his Korean War experiences, The Taking of Hill 610.

Iraq War

An opponent of the Iraq War,[18] McCloskey broke party ranks in 2004 to endorse John Kerry in his bid to unseat George W. Bush as President of the United States.[1]

2006 run for Congress

On January 23, 2006, McCloskey announced at a press conference in Lodi, California that he would return to the political arena by running against seven-term incumbent Republican Richard Pombo in the Republican primary for California's 11th congressional district.[19] Earlier in the year, he formed a group called the "Revolt of the Elders" to recruit a viable primary candidate to run against Pombo. McCloskey's aging campaign bus sported the slogan "Restore Ethics to Congress." McCloskey said, "Congressmen are like diapers. You need to change them often, and for the same reason."[1] McCloskey was endorsed in the Republican Party primary by the San Francisco Chronicle[20] and the Los Angeles Times.[21] In the June 6, 2006, primary, McCloskey was defeated by Pombo. McCloskey received 32% of the vote.[22]

On July 24, 2006, McCloskey endorsed Jerry McNerney, a Democrat who would go on to unseat Pombo in the 2006 midterm elections.[23] McCloskey spent most of Election Night at McNerney's victory party.[24] The Sierra Club recognized McCloskey for helping to unseat Pombo with their 2006 Edgar Wayburn Award.[25]

Change of political affiliation

In the spring of 2007, McCloskey announced that he had changed his party affiliation to the Democratic Party. In an email and letter to the Tracy Press, McCloskey stressed that the "new brand of Republicanism" had finally led him to abandon the party that he had joined in 1948.[26][27] He followed this up with an op-ed column in which he explained that "Disagreement [with party leadership] turned into disgust" and "I finally concluded that it was fraud for me to remain a member of this modern Republican Party", although it was a "decision not easily taken."[2]

Political positions

IHR controversy

Pete McCloskey gave an address to the Institute for Historical Review (IHR) in 2000. When he ran in the 2006 Republican Party primary for congress, there was controversy over exactly what he said about the Holocaust at the event. According to the San Jose Mercury News McCloskey said at the time, "I don't know whether you are right or wrong about the Holocaust," and referred to the "so-called Holocaust". McCloskey replied that he has never questioned the existence of the Holocaust, and the 2000 quote referred to a debate over the number of people killed.[28] McCloskey said in an interview with the Contra Costa Times on January 18, 2006 that the IHR transcript of his speech was inaccurate.[29] Journalist Mark Hertsgaard of The Nation, in response to criticism of an article he wrote praising McCloskey's campaign against Pombo, stated that a tape he had viewed of McCloskey's speech to the IHR did not contain the "right or wrong" wording present in the transcript.[30]

Family and personal life

McCloskey's first marriage was to Caroline; they had four children, Nancy, Peter, John, and Kathleen, before divorcing. He later married Helen V. Hooper.[31]

↑ McCloskey, Jr, Paul N. (May 28, 2000). "Machinations of the Anti-Defamation League". Now, I've always been willing to debate. I once debated Meir Kahane in front of two thousand Jews in San Francisco. I've debated Irv Rubin of the Jewish Defense League. But no ADL leader will debate me on the subject of Israel.